Cavall Vert

La Vall de Laguar has seen many civilizations, the Iberos, the Romans, the Arabs; and they have all left their influence in the cultural customs, in food, language, festive rituals and crafts.
One of the most influential cultures to have touched this area was the Moorish one, leaving physical as well as more subtle evidence.

The name of Vall de Laguar is said to come from Arabic origin, el-aguar means caves in Arabic, there are many caves in this area, some were occupied since Neolithic times. Another theory is that the name derives from ‘Garden of Allah’.
Anyway, we know this was one of last strongholds of the Moorish civilization in Spain. In 1609 king Felipe III ordered the expulsion of all moors from Spain.
A group of them in the Vall de Laguar, lead by a baker called Amed Al Mellini, did not accept they should abandon the land they had worked on so hard and buried their dead in. They rebelled and there was a bloody battle, they were forced back to a castle (Castell de Pop) which lay at the top of a mountain called the Green Horse(Cavall Vert). A legend, perhaps made up by the Christians to cover the true events, says the last moors who did not want to surrender and face certain death awaited salvation from their land on what was like the saddle of the green horse, and as it did not come they threw themselves off the mountain to their deaths.

Cavall Vert covered in snow

Another more probable theory about the name of the mountain Cavall Vert is that it comes from the Iberos; vert could come from the word bart, meaning damp banks, which would refer to the area of Fontilles where many water fountains are born and the Cavall Vert overlooks these. Cavall may come from Latin:Capot Vallis, meaning the head of the valley.